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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25386931">A Bushel and a Peck</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawnrider/pseuds/Dawnrider'>Dawnrider</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Current Events, Dating, Domestic Fluff, Drabble Collection, F/M, Family Fluff, Heavy topics, Non-Chronological, Romantic Fluff, Speciesism</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:55:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,462</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25386931</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawnrider/pseuds/Dawnrider</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A non-chronological collection of drabbles and short one-shots, snapshots in the lives of Kagome and Inuyasha as a couple in our modern world</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Higurashi Kagome/InuYasha, Miroku/Sango (InuYasha)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>58</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Stocking Stuffers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hello!  Some of you may have read a few of these already on Tumblr.  They've usually been in response to prompts sent in or posts that inspired a story.  I plan to keep adding to this as ideas come, so they are in the order they have been written.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha smiled as he watched his wife, huffing in frustration at the scotch tape that stuck to her fingers.  The last of the Christmas gifts for their three year old would go into the stocking and then she would go back to sitting up with their four month old who was currently fretting in his arms.  He bounced the baby while keeping an eye on the stairs to make sure Iz didn’t creep down and spot them decorating and wrapping.  Fortunately Sara was not hungry, just tired, or she would be wailing in his ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome was dressed in a long nursing nightgown he’d given her for Christmas just after they found out they were pregnant with Sara, a thin robe tied off haphazardly at her waist.  Her long dark hair was pulled up into a messy bun on top of her head, her eyes fierce as she did battle with a package of socks that would go in Izayoi’s stocking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had never set eyes on anything more beautiful in his life.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re so sexy when you wrap toddler socks,” he said with a chuckle, his amber eyes bright in the glow cast by the string lights on the tree.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome paused to look down at herself, tossing him an annoyed look before going back to her task.  “I’m not sexy at all like this.”  Inuyasha opened his mouth to protest, snapping it shut when she turned on him, fire in her brown eyes. “If you say ‘you are to me,’ I’m swatting you in the nose with this roll,” she warned, waving an empty wrapping paper tube in his direction.  Despite her ferocious tone, Inuyasha could barely bite back a laugh.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome rolled her eyes at him, slapped the last piece of tape on the seam and let out a sigh of relief.  She gathered up the other little wrapped items and stuffed them into the waiting oversized stocking with Izayoi’s name on it before hanging it back on the nail sticking out of the mantle.  He dipped down, grabbing the empty tube she’d threatened him with earlier.  He used the very end to tap Sara’s nose.  Their infant daughter’s hazel eyes crossed slightly to look at the cardboard, mouth opening and closing in a mimicry of speech and little hands grasping.  He repeated it, smiling when her tiny nose scrunched and she let out a little sigh.  A third time resulted in a soft squeal and a snort.  “Smells kinda funny, don’t it?” he asked her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Even I think it smells funny,” Kagome commented, arms full of wrapping supplies on her way to the storage box.  Inuyasha waited to see if she would organize it, or dump… </span>
  <em>
    <span>Yup, she’s tired</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought, smirking at how his lovely wife dropped everything into the bin and popped the lid closed without a second thought.  He handed her Sara and took the bin without a word, going to stash it in the attic.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When he came back down the pull-down stairs, carefully returning them to their place in the ceiling, he could hear Kagome softly singing to the baby in the nursery.  The inuhanyou stood just outside the doorway, finding the muscles in his shoulders relaxing as he watched Kagome nurse Sara.  He recognized the tune she hummed under her breath, the same song she’d sung to Izayoi since she was tiny.  Their toddler still referred to it as “Mommy’s song,” not knowing it was “A Bushel and a Peck.”  Kagome continued to hum it, even as their pup went completely limp in sleep, dabbing the tiniest dribble of milk from her pink cheek.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha tiptoed in, gently scooping his silver haired daughter out of his wife’s arms so she could sneak away while he moved Sara to her crib.  Sometimes they could slip out without her waking. Sometimes she woke the moment he stopped touching her.  Tonight, fortune shined on them and Inuyasha let out his own sigh of relief.  Sara let out a squeaky sigh in her sleep, but didn’t wake.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck,” he murmured against the back of Kagome’s shoulder when she carefully closed the door.  She let out a breathy laugh at her husband sweeping her off of her feet - clad in fuzzy slippers - and carrying her to bed.  “Sleep, Kagome.  I’ll go check on Iz one more time.” She only groaned, kicking off her slippers and rolling over.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Their first born was sound asleep in her toddler bed, unaware that she would be getting a brand new “big girl bed” come morning.  Inuyasha was not looking forward to putting together that self-assembly nightmare tomorrow, but seeing the look on his little girl’s face when she saw her brand new canopy princess bed - a combination of a pink gauzy material Kagome had found hung over the frame of the convertible loft bed - would be well worth muddling through the wordless directions.  Izayoi had been asking for a princess bed for months.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her little puppy snores in his ears, Inuyasha carefully closed her door and went to check on Sara once more, just to make sure she was soundly asleep.  Her sleepsack was slightly tangled with her feet, but he was able to tug it loose without disturbing her.  He started her sound machine on the lowest setting, then slowly turned it up until the soft swooshing of a heartbeat in utero filled the room.  She was barely out of “the fourth trimester” and obviously found the sound very soothing because he could hear her breathing become more even.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The inuhanyou couldn’t help patrolling the house one more time, checking locks, making sure the alarm system was set, and closing the blinds.  He trailed back up to the master and simply gazed at his wife in sleep.  As he had guessed, she was exhausted, and had fallen asleep almost immediately, not bothering to take off her robe.  He knew it would probably bother her later, but they would be up in a few hours with Sara again anyway.  In the meantime, he wanted her to sleep as much as possible.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome mumbled something unintelligible in her sleep, making him grin.  Inuyasha changed into his sleep pants before tucking himself in with his wife, his mate, the mother of his beautiful daughters.  “A barrel and a heap, and I’m talkin’ in my sleep about you,” he murmured as his nose found its favorite place at the junction of her neck and shoulder.  “Cause I love you, a bushel and a peck.  You bet your pretty neck I do.”  Kagome simply sighed, completely asleep, and settled into his embrace in that instinctive way he so loved.  Like she was meant there. Like they were meant to be together like this. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Best Christmas ever,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he smiled to himself as his own eyelids started to droop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Even if she was wrapped in a comfy nightgown with messy hair, Kagome was the best gift he’d ever gotten, who then gifted him the two pups asleep in their beds. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Merry Christmas to me.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Dinner and Dancing</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A family fluff piece.  Inuyasha and Kagome's daughters delight in some dancing during dinner. Kagome and Inuyasha find there is little time for "dancing" after bedtime.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>
  <span>They had just sat down to dinner, Izayoi kneeling on her chair - despite all parental protests otherwise - and Sara buckled into her highchair to keep her from climbing out of it. "I want the song with the boy and girl singing that change colors."  Inuyasha paused, glancing at his wife and then their daughter.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Do you know what she's talking about?" Kagome asked out of the side of her mouth.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Mommy, I can hear you," Izzy piped in, early signs of sass in the tone of their four year old.  Inuyasha made a face and then thought about it.  “Daddy, on your phone!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Understanding lit his eyes and he grinned. "I think she means Somebody that…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Oh!" Kagome laughed, thinking it was a pretty decent description of the music video. "You wanted the video, baby?" She nodded emphatically in response. "Here, I'll play it there for now. We're eating," she explained gently, pointing at the Bluetooth speaker on the counter. It took a second for the speaker to beep before then playing the requested song. Izayoi's grin was huge and she started wiggling in her chair while munching on her chicken nugget.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha chuckled, teasingly rocking his shoulders, making both of their girls giggle and Kagome grin.  Sara patted her hands on the tray, calling for “More, Daddy! More dance!”  He pinned Kagome with a look and repeated the movement on the beat as the song played.  Izayoi got her little hips moving too, waving a carrot in one hand and her partially eaten nugget in the other.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Mommy, get it!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea, Mommy, get it,” Inuyasha teased. Kagome laughed and rolled her eyes, but let herself groove in her chair a little too.  Sara thought that was delightful, clapping pudgy baby hands together and squealing.  “Ouch, baby, too loud for our ears,” the inuhanyou scolded gently.  Izayoi was scowling at her sister for the interruption of their fun moment. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Welcome to being a big sister,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Kagome thought with a wry grin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>After dinner, the girls got a bath, which was much more necessary for Sara than Iz, and each parent got to tackle combing hair.  Kagome hummed as she wrangled their youngest between her knees while holding her fine hair to keep from yanking, carefully combing around her ears.  Inuyasha, while having more hair to comb, had less to manage as Izayoi could sit to look at a book while he got out the occasional snarl.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, give mommy a kiss.”  Izzy ran over to plop a smooch on Kagome’s cheek, somewhat grudgingly giving her little sister a peck on the head.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Night Baby.  Night Mommy.”  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha tossed a sardonic grin at his wife for the way Izayoi insisted on calling Sara "baby" instead of her name. He scuttled her off to her room while Kagome took a sleepy, and somewhat fussy, Sara into her room. She settled into the rocking chair with a sigh and gathered a squirmy baby into her chest to soothe her to sleep. Sara babbled, half singing herself to sleep over the course of twenty minutes. The soft sounds of her breathing settling, small sighs as she still fought sleep, made Kagome smile.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"She crash yet?" Inuyasha winced when she glanced up at him, that mutual understanding that it was too close yet. He gestured that he was leaving.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>When she was finally sure Sara was asleep, she shifted her into her crib and snuck out. Only to be caught up by her mate. "What are you doing?" she giggled softly. Inuyasha smirked, sweeping her around in a circle, humming some formless tune. "Are we dancing?" She laughed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Keh. Isn't it obvious?" They twisted and twirled down the hall until Inuyasha closed their bedroom door behind them. "This is nice, you know, but I think there's some other dancing we could be doing." Kagome shook her head and smiled at his salacious grin.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"That's true. I suppose I could maybe remember a few moves…" She gently pushed at his shoulders so that he sat on the edge of the bed. The light in his golden eyes was heated. Kagome returned his look with one of her own.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Mooooommy?"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Both parents sagged at the bucket of ice water thrown over their moment in the form of a not-yet-asleep four year old. Inuyasha moved, silently offering to handle her, but Kagome shook her head, tossing him a wry smile. There was a promise for "later" in her eyes. "I'll be here."</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Acceptance</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A "How they met" piece.  Originally posted for the "Acceptance" day as part of InuKag Week on Tumblr.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks to @Superpixie42 on Tumblr for the prompt that was the basis for this one!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>
  <span>The grassy knoll at the bottom of the biggest hill on campus was the best spot for a break between classes.  Kagome made a point to meet up with friends there at least once a week, but often stopped alone to sit under the large maple that remained its central focus.  There was a large retaining wall higher up the hill that was a frequent spot for the architecture students to sit, sketching the buildings around them, analyzing the lines… usually horsing around.  Kagome favored a book in her spare time, since she did so much studying at home, but today she had a test to finish reviewing for in her next class.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A chorus of laughter caught her attention, drawing her eyes up to the wall. There were several male students and a lone female student,  sitting with a sprawl of meal bags and large sketch pads. One young man, with dark hair pulled in a low tail, was playfully elbowing another in the ribs. With silver hair that nearly glinted in the sunlight and a look on his face that promised retribution, the other young man fairly vibrated with irritation.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Until it burst.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Fucking...fine!" he shouted, vaulting off the wall with amazing grace and landing as though it were nothing. Which Kagome realized had to mean he was at least part youkai, because that wall was high. She read in the campus paper a month or so before that a human student had broken a leg and arm trying to impress friends by jumping down and miscalculating the height. And the fact that there was a hill at the bottom.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome went back to her textbook, paging to her next sticky referencing the basilar membrane and set in for a very technical read.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"Um…"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Blinking, Kagome looked up and found the silver haired guy standing near enough to obviously be addressing her without getting too close. "Hi?” His eyes widened at her soft greeting and she could see that they were golden in color.  “Can I help you with something?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh. Well… I…”  He clearly hadn’t thought that they would get this far into the conversation.  Still not sure what his goal was, Kagome slowly sat up and set her book aside.  “My friend has been giving me a hard time and…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I noticed.  I’m Kagome, by the way,” she cut in when he was struggling to continue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I-Inuyasha.” She smiled at his light blush.  “See, he thinks that you’re probably a freshman, but I thought you were older.”  His eyes widened when her eyebrow went up at his choice of words. “Not that you look old or… Shit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome grinned, resting her chin in her hand while looking up at him, nearly sweating under the collar with anxiety now and ready to abandon his mission.  “Sit down a sec.  You look like you need a break.”  He complied without a second thought, plopping into the grass beside her.  They both pretended not to hear the jeering calls from the wall.  “Is this a bet? ‘Cause you won.  I’m a junior.” Inuyasha’s golden eyes flashed triumphantly, then he winced.  “I’m guessing you lot are younger?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.  I’m a senior.  Miroku, my friend, he’s a senior on a victory lap. Maybe a second one… I can’t remember now.”  Kagome giggled.  “We’re architecture.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I figured.  I see you guys up there a lot.”  She noticed the intrigued look in his eyes just before she noticed the pair of fluffy ears that seemed to appear on top of his head.  She let out a little delighted gasp, which caused them to lay back again and his face to shutter.  “Saw that landing too.  Nice.  Way to not break anything.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha froze, then slowly relaxed.  He obviously sensed the acceptance in her demeanor.  “Yea, well that kid was human and didn’t know how to roll into the impact.” They chatted for a few minutes about the incident, then fell into a faintly uncomfortable silence.  “What are you studying?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh!  I have a test on the cochlea in a bit.  Reviewing the basilar membrane functions…”  Inuyasha stared at her with no indication of understanding.  “It’s part of the inner ear.  It moves when sound waves impact the…”  She paused again. “It’s pretty boring, really,” she murmured shyly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So you’re like, in pre med?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No. Audiology.  Or I will be.  Have to do grad school for that.  Right now I’m Speech and Hearing Sciences.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s cool.  You study ears and hearing.”  Kagome wasn’t sure he realized that he was wiggling his very prominent ears at her in his excitement.  She grinned and nodded.  “Wow.  Do they have anything on… on canine hearing in there?” he wondered.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome laughed.  “Not really.  This book focuses on human hearing, but I have another textbook at home that compares human to non-human hearing.  I could… Well… if you wanted...”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Will you be here tomorrow?” he jumped in.  She nodded.  “Keh.  Bring it then.”  A light flush lit her cheeks.  “I-If that’s alright?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yea. It’s alright.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The pair continued to meet in the grassy knoll almost every day for a week, only the intense rain one afternoon keeping them from seeing each other.  Kagome realized after the storm that she had no way to contact him. They could have chosen one of the libraries to meet instead!  The next afternoon, she put on her brave face and sucked up her nervous feelings so she could ask for his number.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh!  Yea!  I mean,” he paused, clearing his throat, “that would be cool. Or whatever.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He crouched beside her, starting to put in his password. So focused on the pattern, Inuyasha didn't notice Kagome glancing over his shoulder. He yelped when she grabbed the handset out of his long fingers, studying the screen intently for a moment before looking at him with a faint frown.  “Am I your lockscreen?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She could see the proverbial "oh shit" in his eyes before he snatched the phone back. Kagome waited for him to respond but found that he was speechless. It was a candid shot, obviously taken from the wall, with her casually laying on her stomach, reading a book. The distance and zoom made it a little blurry, but it was definitely her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You weren’t supposed to see that,” he finally squeaked out. Kagome could see by how flat his ears lay against his head that he was about to panic. She had picked up on some of his tells in the last week, as well as done a little research about canine youkai.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>What she had also picked up on in her brief search was that hanyou, like Inuyasha, were in an odd place in society.  She had never really met anyone with mixed heritage before, so she wasn’t aware of the stigma.  Inuyasha was likely made very aware of it, regularly and from an early age.  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You didn’t get a very good angle,” she said lightly, pulling up her own phone and flipping the camera so they could see themselves on the screen.  Inuyasha still looked confused and terrified.  Kagome smiled brightly and caught one shot that way, then nudged his shoulder.  “You gonna smile or what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>It took him a moment to process what she was doing, how she was reacting to him. That she was… accepting him.  When he finally understood all of that, he relaxed, gaze softening, ears returning to their normal position and a faint grin lifting the corner of his lips.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s better.”  Kagome snapped another couple of shots to make sure they got a good one.  “Here.  Give me your number and I’ll send them to you so you can use one of those instead.  Much better angle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha chuckled even as he took out his phone again.  “That was pretty slick, you know that?  I wouldn’t have guessed you had that in you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome grinned as she put his number into a text and shot off the pictures with a heart emoji.  “I think there’s a lot of things you’ll find out about me that you wouldn’t have guessed.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha matched her smirk with one of his own.  “I accept that.”</span>
</p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Fundamental</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A late night. A heavy conversation.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>CW: Discussion of violence</p>
<p>So I'm going to preface this with a short note because I think it's important that I do.  I almost didn't write this.  I almost didn't post it.  This one is heavy, it's sticky.  It might make you feel uncomfortable.  I'm asking you to lean in to that sticky feeling, that discomfort.  Because this is pretty thinly veiled and I doubt you'll miss the context.  So if this makes you uncomfortable and makes you feel angry <em>at me</em> for writing it, I want you to think about why.  If it makes you feel uncomfortable and like you want to do something, then I urge you to do so.</p>
<p>But the important thing that you need to know is that much of this is from an actual conversation that I had with my husband.  This is real life for families.  This is a real thing that real people are facing every day. So while this is packaged with different nomenclature and within the realm of fiction, <em>this is real life.</em></p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome couldn’t help how she was checking every news feed, all the news channels, the articles friends were posting.  It was exhausting. It was heartbreaking.  It was terrifying.  There had been yet another incident where someone of youkai descent was killed by the authorities.  It was caught on film this time. Everyone saw it.  Millions upon millions around the world witnessed the way a young tanuki man had been restrained with no real cause and slowly killed with reiki.  He couldn’t fight back, couldn’t defend himself.  The other officers present didn’t reach out to stop the monk inflicting the undeserved punishment, instead threatening the crowd back who were shouting, </span>
  <em>
    <span>begging</span>
  </em>
  <span>, them to stop.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But they didn’t stop.  And that man was dead, for no reason other than the fact that his genetics were a little different than theirs. Because he was perceived as a threat simply for daring to exist.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome felt like vomiting.  This was so wrong.  She felt down to the depths of her soul how wrong it all was.  And this… this was not only fundamentally wrong, it was a fear that her sweet husband had been faced with from the day he was born.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>She had thought she understood what she was doing when she accepted Inuyasha’s offer of a date, and then marriage.  She thought she was living a life that showed that youkai and humans could live in harmony, that they weren’t actually different and could live like any other family.  But as more incidents became publicized of youkai being attacked, murdered…  She began to realize that there was more to it than she had understood.  Than she had ever had the opportunity to learn.  Her education had never included anything about the reality of discrimination that youkai had faced for centuries.  It was brushed over, reflected on for a moment and then it was “look how far we have come!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Except now it was clear that they hadn’t come all that far.  Certainly not far enough.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome sat in the dark on the patio with a glass of wine, incessantly scrolling through articles, pasting links to articles and books she wanted to read to educate herself.  To do more… to do </span>
  <em>
    <span>something</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kagome? What are you doing out here?” Inuyasha asked as he pulled the patio door closed behind him.  She glanced up at him with red rimmed eyes and he sighed.  “Kagome…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sit down, please?” Inuyasha shrugged lightly and sat in the opposite patio seat, staring at her with glowing golden eyes.  He had a feeling he knew what she was feeling, but she didn’t know where to start and he didn’t have energy in that moment to do it for her.  “How… How do I do better?” she whispered.  He waited.  “I feel like I’m trying to live the way I feel is right, that I’m living as an ally.  But… but it’s not enough.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha watched her nibble her lip, wanting to get his thoughts better in order before he spoke.  “What do you think you’re not doing that you’re supposed to?” he asked quietly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome took a breath, sitting back and finally setting her phone aside.  She struggled to come up with the words she wanted to say.  “I guess I don’t know if I’m supposed to be putting up things all over my social media. Should I be saying more? To make sure people know where I stand.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Her husband let his tongue trace his teeth for a moment.  “If that’s something you think you need to do.  I understand why you wouldn’t.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I didn’t think I needed to, really, because I live that truth.  Youkai should be equal. What’s happening is… is disgusting.  Those officers…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh huh.  And they are going to feel empowered to keep doing it, because there are enough people out there that think that we are dangerous.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Kagome nodded, her eyes sad.  “I thought I understood.  I thought I knew what was going on in this world.  And then this.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s just getting caught on video now.  It’s always been happening.” She sucked in a hard breath and let it out slowly.  Intellectually, she knew he was absolutely right.  It had been happening for centuries. Binding youkai to do a human's bidding, "purifying" them, confining them to certain neighborhoods, a fight for rights to participate in the governments that had such reign over their lives... It was still a very hard pill to swallow when she had been raised in such an open and loving home, with friends who were both human and youkai from elementary school, even going to a school where there were far more youkai than humans at one point.  It had never fazed her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>They sat in silence while she processed for a few minutes, Inuyasha knowing this was difficult and giving her space.  But Kagome hated that he was coddling her when he should be angry, he should push her.  “I felt like there was nothing I could do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha nodded.  “You’re not the only one.”  He glanced off into the yard for a moment.  “But that’s why the protests are happening.  So many people have decided that they are done thinking there is nothing they can do and if they do it together… maybe…”  She could hear the skepticism in his voice.  It certainly wasn’t the first time even in his lifetime that protests had occurred.  Not on this scale, not worldwide like now, but protests, demonstrations, riots, rallies.  All of which had been put down, diminished, brushed under a rug by the governments that didn’t want to admit to the speciesism that kept the world afloat.  That kept the people who wanted to be in power in power.  Enough people were afraid, Kagome was afraid, but of something different than those that would keep youkai under foot. She was afraid of the world that had been revealed to her and how sheltered and ignorant she had been all her life. How did that happen? How did the </span>
  <em>
    <span>true</span>
  </em>
  <span> history of an entire species of people become so hidden?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Did you think of going?” she asked finally.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A mirthless smile ticked at the corner of his lip.  “I don’t want to be another story.”  She let that sink in.  He wanted to go and lift his voice, his fist, in solidarity with those like him.  But there was a very real fear that he too, especially being male and with his hanyou features openly marking him as not one or the other, would be the target of violence. “I have you, and Izayoi, to worry about.  I can’t risk it.”  Kagome looked up toward the window facing them, the lighted mobile in their baby’s room casting green and purple lights on the ceiling. Their baby who looked so much like her father that Kagome sometimes wondered if her genes were in there at all.  “This is exactly why I was so upset when that squat human won the presidency, Kagome.  Her.  I’m used to this,” he stated, gesturing around vaguely, “but I never wanted this for her.  I don’t want to have to fear for her life too.  But that’s how it is, isn’t it?”  He snarled, standing to pace for a few turns of the patio.  “To you, we’re just us, your family.  You can’t imagine why anyone would hate us.  But to enough people, we’re just different enough.  To enough crazy ass people, we’re different enough that they would wipe us off the face of this planet because…”  He didn’t have an answer.  The fear that continued to drive people to hate those of youkai ancestry, even those who were mixed with human, made no sense.  There were dangerous humans, just as much a youkai, and yet humans were not subjected to violence or murder by the authorities at anywhere near the rate that youkai were.  And usually for doing nothing more than being present in a space that had been deemed a human space.  Or walking a pet in a predominantly human neighborhood and a human was “afraid.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But she’s so small,” Kagome found herself trying to argue.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Keh.  She is now.  But what about when she’s a teenager? Or grown?  You think it will make any difference to them that she’s someone’s baby girl?”  Kagome looked down at her lap. "Do you think they'll care that she is a sweet soul like her mother, that she's a smart kid?" He found himself escalating, too upset by the thought of someone potentially hurting their baby because she looked </span>
  <em>
    <span>enough</span>
  </em>
  <span> like him. " And they wouldn't give her time to explain herself, would they?" He asked, his voice growing in volume slightly with his rising agitation. "They would jump to conclusions and she wouldn't be able to defend herself because she could wind up dead. Keep our cool, be respectful, just follow directions, don't… don't..." With a sharp breath, he realized that he was shouting.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Can't do that</span>
  </em>
  <span>, he thought, reigning in his anger, his youki. He couldn't be too loud, sound too angry, let his emotions fly. Kagome would understand, but the neighbors… He couldn't risk the authorities getting called. Domestic disturbance could turn very quickly into domestic violence and then suddenly he could be at the wrong end of a purification staff. Luckily for him, it would only hurt, not kill him. But the gun in the other hand would finish the job. He couldn't let himself be upset for fear he would feed into the stories many humans believed. Angry. Violent. Dangerous. Kill you as soon as look at you. He couldn't become another news story because he had Kagome and Izayoi to think about.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m too sober for this,” she muttered, picking up her wine and taking a swig.  Inuyasha slouched into the chair across from her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Kagome, the fact that you’re a human, that you’re a miko… I hate this but, the truth is, that protects me.  It protects her,” he gestured angrily at the window.  “I hate that we have to rely on that as a defense, but it’s the reality.  My mother being human protected me until I was too old, too big, for it to mean anything anymore.  I was too old, too tall, too strong to </span>
  <em>
    <span>not</span>
  </em>
  <span> be a threat.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I… I know. It shouldn’t be like that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But it is.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"I know. Even I… I find myself wary sometimes. There were a couple of boys, teenagers, they were just walking down the street. I don't think they even noticed me." Kagome took a breath. "Just a couple of ookami who were walking together and minding their business. But I found myself being worried. Now I don't even know what of! Why? Why did I feel that way?!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He hushed her, reminding her that their daughter had his sensitive hearing and could be awoken by her hysterics. "You… all humans, really. You've been taught that youkai are dangerous. Stories, movies, television. Everything tells you that youkai, especially males, are a threat. You internalize that, even if you don't realize it."</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>"But I </span>
  <em>
    <span>know</span>
  </em>
  <span> better!"</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha sucked his tongue in thought. "Logically, yes. But it's been ingrained into you from when you were little. That's hard to fight." There was a heavy pause as he thought about it. "Now you're aware of that inclination for fear, you can change it." His wife sunk further into her chair, into herself.  “Look, don’t dive into all that human guilt shit.  It’s not going to help.  Learn for yourself.  Do better.  Have those hard conversations with your friends, your family.  They think because they know me that it somehow… absolves them of any speciesism.  But that’s not how it works, is it?” She shook her head, meeting his eyes.  “Kagome, I know that you know in your heart that you are not prejudiced against youkai.  You wouldn’t have married me, had my child, if that were the case. But there are things that all humans don’t know, don’t understand, because they don’t live that life.  No matter how they have suffered from poverty or bullying, their species had nothing to do with that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yes.  You’re right.  I don’t understand why people get so up in arms over ‘Youkai Lives Matter.’ It just…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Because those are the people who think of respect as pie.”  Kagome gave him a bizarre look, mouthing “pie” at him in confusion.  He laughed a bit.  “Yea, you know.  Piece for me means less for you.  So if I say that my life matters, they somehow think that theirs matters less.”  She opened and closed her mouth like a fish for a moment, clearly a bit baffled by his statement.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“But it isn’t fucking pie!” she spat.  Inuyasha shrugged.  She shook her head in frustration.  She mentioned a story of a youkai man who had placed a sign in front of his own house proclaiming youkai lives mattered.  A house he’d lived in for years.  And his human neighbor tried to confront him, threatened to call the authorities on him and claiming that she knew the owner of the house and that it wasn’t him.  Fortunately, the authorities did nothing to him, but the fact remained that had it been a different set of officers, it could have gone very differently.  And that woman called anyway, knowing what </span>
  <em>
    <span>could</span>
  </em>
  <span> have happened to him. “I want a sign,” she stated.  “I want to write it on the front of our house in giant letters.  I want everyone to know where we stand, that youkai are safe here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha nodded.  He’d had similar thoughts, but had been a bit hesitant about how Kagome might feel about it.  “I just worry about making our house a target,” he muttered.  “I think I might talk to Miroku first,” he commented, referring to their good friends and neighbors who were also pretty progressive. “If they were on board to do it too…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A united front?” He nodded.  “I like that.  I’ll talk to Sango too.”  Kagome took a fortifying breath.  “Thank you.  For talking about this stuff with me. I know it must be hard and… I know you must be tired.  I want to be better, for you… for her.” Inuyasha waved her over, opening his arms to her in an open invitation to sit in his lap.  She took it, curling into his embrace and pressing her nose into his throat.  They sat that way for a while, simply breathing as one.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As usual, their peace was interrupted by a squalling cry over the monitor.  “I’ll get her.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.  Let me.  She’s probably hungry anyway.”  Inuyasha placed a soft kiss on the side of her head before letting her out of his embrace.  He murmured that he loved her, making sure that her eyes met his before he let go of her hand.  Kagome sighed with a mixture of relief and happiness.  Hearing him say it, even if she knew it in her heart, was a balm after the big conversation they’d had.  She slipped into the house, leaving her hardly drunk wine with her husband and going in to soothe their screaming infant.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Izayoi was waving her arms and legs angrily in her crib, little face screwed up in obvious agitation.  Kagome shook her head a little and scooped her up into her arms.  Iz settled a bit, but was still wailing away.  With a song humming under her breath, Kagome changed her diaper and made sure her onesie was all dry before putting her back into her sleep sack.  Izayoi hated having her feet covered, but it was the only way to keep her warm and not risk her smothering herself with how much she tended to move while sleeping.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Hush, sweet, hush.  You’re alright,” Kagome murmured as she settled into the rocking chair and unfastened her nursing top and bra.  Tiny hands were instantly patting at her chest until Izayoi was able to latch on and start eating.  “There, see, you’re fine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>As she sat, Kagome started pushing her foot against the floor until they were rocking gently.  She stared down at her baby, her beautiful, perfect, amazing baby.  Silver fuzz coated her head, her tiny inu ears still relatively floppy against her skull.  There were soft sounds of feeding, snorts and grunts.  It had surprised her a little, discovering how noisy newborns were.  A lot had changed in the months since Izayoi was born, but her noisy eating was not one of them.  Kagome smiled softly, fingering a curl beside her little ear.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Unbidden, tears came to her eyes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>This sweet, precious, soft, innocent baby could be perceived as a threat by someone someday.  Someone down the road might see her ears, her claws and fangs, and automatically assume she was dangerous.  What about in school?  Would her teachers treat her differently?  Would they think her not as capable because there was a stereotype that youkai weren’t as intelligent?  Could it keep her from making friends?  “My sweet, my sweet,” she whispered as they rocked, tears trailing down her face and dripping onto the soft cheek still pressed against her breast.  “Izayoi, Mommy will protect you, just as much as Daddy.”  Kagome sucked in a sob, struggling not to startle her awake again.  “Mommy and Daddy will work to make this world safer for you. It has to be.”  She pulled Iz up her chest to her shoulder, softly burping her and nuzzling her little head.  “You will grow up in a world that sees how wonderful you are,” Kagome vowed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha stayed outside the door to his daughter’s room, watching his wife cuddle her close and come to terms with the fear he’d been dealing with since the moment she told him she wanted a baby.  Then the moment she told him she was pregnant…  He would give up everything else for his family.  They meant </span>
  <em>
    <span>everything</span>
  </em>
  <span> to him.  But before this little family of his was a reality, he had been nearly overrun with the fear of what it could mean.  He almost told Kagome “no” when she told him she wanted children.  What kind of monster would he be to bring forth a child that could potentially suffer like he had?  What kind of selfish bastard would he be to put a child in the path of people who would do her harm for nothing more than the color of her hair and eyes, the ears that adorned her head?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Seeing Kagome with Izayoi now though… Seeing the love that he felt to his core reflected in the pain and fear she now displayed, the way she cocooned their daughter protectively to her chest...  It just made him feel all the more determined.  He would fight for his family.  Kagome was right.  He </span>
  <em>
    <span>was</span>
  </em>
  <span> tired.  But he couldn’t give up.  Izayoi was counting on him. Even if she didn’t know it yet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Inuyasha pulled out his phone and quelled the shaking in his hands before tapping out a text.  </span>
  <b>
    <em>Hey dude, I want to talk to you about something kinda serious.  You still up?</em>
  </b>
</p>
<p> </p>
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